I'll Find You
by Tea-and-Onigiri
Summary: Dave and Jade are childhood friends, separated three years ago by Dave's move to Texas. They've kept in contact, but lately Dave has received few messages from Jade on Pesterchum and more dreams featuring his crush. It's all been a message; Jade, the toughest person Dave knows, is in trouble, and it's up to Dave and his friends to help her, no matter the cost.
1. Chapter 1 - First Calling

Light morning rainfall produced delicate dripping notices as I awoke that morning. I sat up in bed, half-naked and half-awake, to see water droplets cover my window pane like confetti.

I seldom bothered to close the blinds on my window, given our apartment was on the seventh floor. The open blinds gave me a chance to see a grey sky that stretched over Houston, producing the spatters on the window. If anything, I must have slept through a rough storm last night; mud covered half of the sidewalk in front of the building, blown across from the apartment's courtyard.

This was a first, as I'd never slept through a storm before, but I was glad I didn't wake last night. I had a sweet dream, a dream about her. Ever since our separation I had developed several dreams in which we met again. These dreams occurred on a regular basis and only made me want to reunite with her more.

I brushed my hair out of my eyes and swung my legs off the side of the bed. After standing up, I proceeded with my Friday morning routine, freshening up in the bathroom, pulling on jeans and a red shirt, and slipping on my aviators. Bro wasn't here to see my off like he used to; he'd taken the early morning shift at Whataburger. I had to make my Dinosaur Egg Oatmeal by myself and lock the door after I grabbed my hoodie and began down to the bus stop.

The fusty old bus 413 rumbled to a stop in front of my apartment, at the street corner. I took a seat in the middle of the bus, away from the nerds in the front and the stoners in the back. Olga, our driver, does and elementary run too, so the interior of the vehicle is done up in Christmas decorations in celebration of the two-week long holiday that begins tomorrow. As much as I like Christmas, I was kind of ready for the hype to pass over; some creepy elf sticker was staring at me throughout the ride to school.

I wipe some of the fog off the window and stare at the soggy world as my bus journeys to the high school. We pass too many people to count and none of them matter to me. Maybe, if you'd lived in this community since you were in diapers, you'd call out to half the people you passed on the way to school, but this was my third year living with Bro. I knew no one here; few people knew my name…

I see a familiar face. A very familiar face.

I see Jade.

She appears different now, different from how she appears in my dreams. Rather than the seventh-going-on-eighth grader I once knew, I'm looking at a girl who must be a sophomore now. Jade is taller now, and her figure is a little more…defined, but I'd recognize her anywhere. Her long black hair, almond shaped eyes, and round glasses have been burned into my memory from years of friendship.

My head whips around to follow her figure, but Jade has disappeared from vision before I'm ready. A million thoughts flood my head at once; Why is Jade here? We should meet! Why didn't she tell me she was coming? I'm so excited! I slip out my iPhone and throw Jade a message via Pesterchum. For the rest of the ride I anxiously await her response, praying for a reply message that confirms she's come to meet with me.

It isn't until first period English that I realize how outlandish the whole ordeal sounds. Why would Jade fly from Hawaii all the way to Texas? She has friends other than me. It didn't make sense to spend hundreds of dollars on a trip to Houston for one old friend. Not to mention, I was positive that Jade wasn't the type of person to come here without telling me. Surely she would have sent me a message, or called me, or something, so that we could meet. However, the image of Jade standing on the sidewalk, clutching a Squiddles umbrella, was all I could think off during Ms. Garcia's lecture on Why We Won't Get a Job If We Can't Identify Symbolism in Classic American Literature.

Unintentionally, I ignore a lot of people who try to speak to me throughout the day (except Ms. Garcia. I intentionally ignored her dumb speech.) The thought of meeting Jade again, as crazy as it seemed, had kind of consumed me. I checked my phone every five minutes to see if she had responded, even though I had set it on vibrate.

I wasn't like this most of the time. I had always preferred the "cool kid" image, and I acted the role of the funny guy with my friends. Girls never made me so poetically lost in thought. I had dated some before, sure, and liked it, but Jade was different. Maybe because we were childhood friends, maybe because we weren't dating, but mostly because I had the biggest crush on her since I declared I would marry my first grade teacher, Ms. Park.

Seventh period Spanish with Senor Beltre came and I retreated to my seat at the table in the back, with John. All of my classes so far had been knock-offs, and Spanish was no exception. Beltre didn't even bother explaining to the class what we were going to do before he plugged How the Grinch Stole Christmas (in Espanol, of course) into the VHS player. I groaned. This was the tenth shitty Christmas special I'd seen today.

I laid my head on the cool tabletop as John takes his seat next to me. As I pull my arms around my head to form a cradle, I tell John that I am going to take a mother-fucking sleeping beauty long nap so he'd better not wake me up. I was beat, despite all the rest I got last night.

"Okay Dave," John began to reply. "But the other classes-"

I don't hear anything else that John says, because almost as soon as I close my eyes, I'm out like a light.

-Comments-

Welcome to the sequel of More Beautiful Than the Rain! 7 I'm so excited to be continuing the story and that I'll be writing my first multi-chapter fic. (As of 3/14, I'll Find You has three completed chapters in my notebook)

The reason this story is not a second chapter of its prequel is because it is not a direct continuation. The events in More Beautiful Than The Rain are the dream that Dave speaks of at the beginning of this chapter. When I came up with the concept for I'll Find You, I felt as if Dave had just come into my mind and started telling me his story, but it wasn't exactly like the previous one. There's still a connection between the stories, however.

Please enjoy I'll Find You! w


	2. Chapter 2 - Second Calling

She was in this dream, too.

Jade didn't seem to notice me, however. We were both standing in the magnet train station, the petite girl standing on her tip-toes in front of me and reading the train schedule on the wall. The place itself looked fairly fancy and brand-new, which it was; the trans-continental mag-lev train system was only completed a couple of years ago.

She looked really cute today. Jade's long dark hair was pulled into a giant, neon green hair clip on the back of her head, spilling out of the top like a fountain. Her outfit consisted of dark skinny jeans, lime green flats, and one of those hipster outer-space print tops. Jade rocked back and forth on her feet and bit her bottom lip, a habit she had for as long as I have known her.

"There it is," Jade said brightly, acknowledging me without turning her head my way. The sudden voice startled me, as the dream-train station was stark-bare of people. "There's a five o' clock train to New York City this evening."

I was perplexed. "We're going to NYC?" I asked. Granted, I should have been excited. This was a dream; we could do whatever we wanted. I couldn't explain why this dream felt so real, so lucid.

Although I expected Dream Jade to tell me I was silly and of course we were going to New York, why else would she point out the time, she smiled sadly.

"Dave, would you believe me if I told you this dream is a message?" she asked.

I hesitated, taking a moment to process this statement. "I trust you," I affirmed. "But… does this have anything to do with the whole Prospit and Derse thing?"

"Kinda, yeah."

I would never forget about Prospit and Derse. When I was in middle school, before I moved in with Bro (formally my uncle) freshmen year, I lived with my mom and my half-sister, Rose, in Hawaii. Mom is a novelist and decided she wanted to live in the tropics to write when I was ten. While there, we lived next door to Jade and her grandfather, who had retired there.

Jade used to tell Rose and me all about Prospit and Derse's moons. Apparently, when we went to sleep on Earth, we awoke on the moon of Prospit or Derse, Jade on Prospit's and Rose and me on Derse's. Jade's grandfather told us that her stories were the result of emotional trauma; Jade's parents perished in a fire five years before we moved to the island. However, Jade described the dream world so vividly, Rose and I would secretly hope we awoke on Derse whenever we went to bed every night.

"We're there now, you know," Jade added. "Can you see it yet? Can you see Derse?"

I was going to shake my head no, but something changed. The walls of the train station began to melt away, making it obvious the setting was an illusion. I realized that I was never in a train station, I was standing in a purple Dersian room, high up in a tower. This room contained a single door and a bed that stood next to the window. I was decked out in violet pajamas, complete with a crescent moon shape on the chest.

Jade appeared out of place. Everything I saw was a shade of lavender or magenta or indigo, but Jade's gown was as golden as the sun. The crescent on her chest glittered and reflected light on the ground, and a faux white carnation was pinned in her hair.

A mixture of excitement and shock filled me. "It's real?" I exclaimed. Jade nodded her head. "Aw man, this is so cool. We should hang out here, when we're asleep on Earth, and we could wake up Rose's dream self, and-"

"Dave!" Jade was irritated. I shivered; Jade was quirky, but she was a terror when she got mad. Not to mention, for someone who was still in high school, Jade was a sure shot with a rifle and had a huge husky dog, Becquerel.

"I came to Derse to speak to you, not to play games," she continued. Her voice began to show hints of worry. "We don't have a lot of time…"

I focused on Jade. "Sorry. What's up?"

Jade opened the door and waved for me to follow. It was apparent we would take a walk as she delivered her message.

"I need your help," Jade began to explain. "I've been kidnapped."

"You what? How?"

"I don't quite remember… I was walking home from school, but instead of taking the short route, I went through downtown; through the tourist traps. Someone came up to me, and I thought they were going to ask me how to get to the beach or something, but they didn't. That's where the memory stops. After that, I was in New York."

"Why would someone take you?"

"I don't know that either. I know that they're… I think they, the people who took me, do experiments or something. Something with science. There's a lot of weird machines here, and I hear animals, dogs and birds and stuff."

Jade paused before continuing. "It's so much easier to explain when I'm not looking my situation in the face. But… I'm really scared, Dave. I don't know what's going on… I've tried to break out, but I can't. They keep putting me on sedatives, maybe because I keep making noise, but…"

To both of our surprise, I wrapped my arms around Jade. Normally I wasn't this... gentlemanly. Even now, I felt like my heart itself was shaking with fear. I couldn't stand the idea of something happening to Jade. Would I really be able to help her? Jade was a million times stronger than me; when we went to school together, she was always the one saving me when I got in trouble. I wasn't a hero. I was Dave Strider, Total Pussy.

However, I knew I had to try. I had to make sure Jade didn't get hurt. I was the only one who could get her help; I was the only one she could contact. As we stood, embracing on a fuchsia bridge, I decided I would rescue Jade or die trying.

Drowsiness began to overtake me and I let go of Jade. "I'm… I'm coming," I assured her.

As much as I longed to remain in the safety of Derse with Jade, the world began to fade. I unwillingly returned to Spanish class before I could say goodbye.


End file.
